I wonder if the differing results is because of OS.

 

Like I said, with W8.1 I have to Run As Administrator, but I suspect under W7 you don't...

 

To answer OP though, I have never seen "Run As Administrator" greyed out. I find that odd...

 

So my settings are the EZdok program, I have "Run As Administrator" selected under the Compatibility tab of the EXDok EXE (and I have it to run under Windows 7 compatibility mode) and with FSX I have to right-click and select "Run As Administrator"

 

I could probably resolve it, but I spent a lot of time trying to get everything to work, I'm not touching anything now

Nothing in FSX or related to FSX needs to be run As Administrator unless you have a unique situation.

It's not about "who we are logged in as", it's about "folder and file permissions".

 

When we log into Windows we become members of the Users group.

 

FSX-SE comes with the steam folder permissions set correctly for the Users group. We can install addons in that folder and the User mode app gets read/write access to its files.

 

If we install FSX or P3D in the Program Files folder we don't ordinarily have read/write access to it as Users on Vista and above, although we did get ordinary permission with WinXP.

 

To overcome the permissions problem with Vista and above, we simply add Write and Modify permissions for the users group on that folder. This is like wearing shoes instead of carpeting the whole world.

 

If we make our own folder to install our sim, that's OK, but that folder merely inherits the permissions of the user, not the group the user belongs to. So we still should add those write and modify permissions for the Uses group as well, to avoid problems down the line with user profiles and network access.

 

As Jim quite expertly points out, "run As Administrator" is generally not required.

 

However, as Jim also points out there are special circumstances. If apps like installers or apps that make system changes are run in User mode, they "Elevate" to admin mode to make those changes, or at least that's how they are supposed to work. If we Run as Admin, then any payload attached has been unleashed before the program has checked itself for tampering by malware.

 

Unfortunately some apps, and a very few FSX addons, running in user mode attempt to write to the Admin section of the registry (by error) and must be Run as Admin or will never work.

(...)

 

To answer OP though, I have never seen "Run As Administrator" greyed out. I find that odd...

 

(...)

 

 

In the Properties/Compatibility options it's greyed out as long as you look at it "in a standard (user's) way". After clicking the 'Change settings for all users' button, administrator privileges can be enabled and the checkbox becomes 'active', so not greyed-out anymore.

As far as I can remember, I have never had to use administrator status to install or run a product.

As far as I can remember, I have never had to use administrator status to install or run a product.

 

Exactly, because your user account is an administrator account and you have FS installed outside of the protected folders.

We're not writing to the registry. We're hooking the code of FSX and windows permissions does not like that UNLESS you've got UAC turned off and are running as an admin.

I have always installed FSX/P3D in the default Program Files (x86) location. Isn't that supposed to be "protected"?

 

 

Isn't that supposed to be "protected"?

 

And UAC slider is where on that system?

We're not writing to the registry. We're hooking the code of FSX and windows permissions does not like that UNLESS you've got UAC turned off and are running as an admin.

So are we, but that's not a problem of permissions, and we don't need to Run as Admin and adjust UAC.

 

I have always installed FSX/P3D in the default Program Files (x86) location. Isn't that supposed to be "protected"?

It's not a problem of where FSX/P3D is located, often it all works without intervention anyway. However, install an addon that places files in that sim folder, and if that addon expects to write to those files during normal use, then those files may be protected since there are no write or modify permissions associated with the User on that folder. Another problem would be for addons that wanted to modify any FSX/P3D files in that folder, like aircraft.cfg files and so on, the same problem arises; no write permissions.

 

The best way to install FSX/P3D is as I directed earlier, simply to add those write and modify permissions for the Users group on the program files location and forget about admin this that and the other. This has been the way of doing things I have recommended since users migrated from WinXP. Although it seems many go for the alternative install location to a folder made by the user. In that case all the files can be written to by the same user because the folder simply inherited the users own permissions. It therefor follows that the folder may not be accessible to other users, which could just be a replacement profile for a corrupted one, or the network. So we add those permissions for the Users group anyway, or although unlikely in a simple system, eventually we can come up with problems.

 

We are already an Admin as the first User account, but that does not come with blanket permissions, which is why we still have to allow the UAC to elevate to Admin mode for certain jobs, or run some apps as Admin.

 

AFAIK, UAC has been forced upon Microsoft customers because too many of them have run all sorts of applications from their admin account, instead of creating a more restricted (standard) account for their every-day use. That's why a higher level of UAC simply has to interfere with certain tasks performed from the admin account..

 

 

AFAIK, UAC has been forced upon Microsoft customers because too many of them have run all sorts of applications from their admin account, instead of creating a more restricted (standard) account for their every-day use.

 

And I suspect that's why Windows 10 Home won't allow users to update it - to protect  customers from themselves..

The administrator account is default disabled.  It is not the same as a user account in the administrators group.  To get admin you need to open a command line as admin (UAC elevation) and enter command

net user administrator /active:yes

then log out and log back in as administrator.

 

scott s.

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